Khandarfur Class Battleship
The Khandarfur class Battleship was first drawn out by Trayshal Unlimited during the Erravi Conflict. The first hull wasn't laid down until first contact with the Tethyns. The Tethyn fleet was formidable and large, but it was only meant to explore and occupy space with not as much ship to ship combat in mind. The USK finally approved TU's largest ship ever. The Khandarfur Class battleship was the most powerful ship constructed during the war and was the USK's first Battleship. The KBB-''I'' was a favorite for a long time, but as the years progressed and peace settled on Tethys Prime, newer models were considered and constructed. The KBB became a family, with five variants and innumerable refits, this class became as diverse as a fighter class by the time it was decommissioned by the Khandarfur Empire. The Khandarfur-I was used primarily during the USK-Tethyn Conflict, with several ships that live on in history. As conflict boiled with the Jajorians, the Khandarfur II was already in production but a vast majority of the KBB-''I's had already been scrapped or converted. By the end of that war, a third was already in the design books and being approved by the USSC and USK. The KBB-''III did not see much combat, and the design recognized the reduce need for combat in the ensuing years. The fourth iteration however was designed and not put into production until the Red War and the realization that there were more hostile species beyond Khandarfur sunk in. The fifth was thought up during the Red War as the fourth was being produced and by the time the CCIISP was in the picture only the KBB-''IV'' was in service. The KBB-''V'' was produced during the first military buildup while tensions grew between the two powers. only a handful were completed though due to the more advanced technology and thus increased production costs and time. When the CCIISP was finally forced into peace, the Khandarfur Empire demanded a new ship and decommissioned the KBB's entirely. =First Deployments= USSS Khandarfur was first started in early 182 NE. 122 others were ordered about halfway through the Khandarfur's construction. After successful trials near Draxpog, over two thousand more were ordered. Khandarfur was constructed tested and commissioned in complete secrecy, after it impressed the SG and USSC alike, the ship and its family were made public. This worried the Tethyns. By 204 NE, nearly a thousand were completed with a total of 3 332 either completed or under construction. The Khandarfur I was used for the entirety of the USK-Tethyn Conflict with immense success. Eldrin's Revenge The Khandarfur was pivotal in the success of the operation. The Tethyns new about the several new ships that were added to the USK arsenal. They had been tasked with eliminating as many as possible and were complacent in their success against them. The USSC left the Khandarfur within USK space, laying in wait for the Tethyn Armada. Without the addition of this super battleship, the USK would not have stood a chance. Conquering the Tethyns The Tethyn Military was certainly formidable in the beginning, after most of their armada was wiped out though the war was a slow push. Most of the KBB's held the line against minor assaults while a handful were tasked with leading fleets or assaults against the Tethyns and their Empire. Immediately a task force was created within USK space that bombarded the more distant homeworlds and military installations, since it was projected to take a while for the war to reach those targets and from that distance the bombarding would actually be effective at the time of invasion. This, among other reasons, made the KBB's an extremely high value target to the Tethyns. The SG was able to mask how many KBB's were actually in service, the Tethyns were operating under the assumption that only 12 were in service for most of the war. While the ship was able to protect itself and its crew incredibly well, there were plenty of exceptions. ''USSS Byblitek'' There were only minor casualties to the KBB's during the war, and unfortunately for the USK, the Byblitek was lost with all hands. Overlooking the Sakidan Homeworld, [[USSS Byblitek|USSS KBB-''I''-2201 Byblitek]] was bombarding the planet during a failing ground assault. The ship had launched all of its auxiliary craft and dispatched all available crewmen and infantry. It was running on a skeleton crew. At 1300 hours local time, a Tethyn Battlegroup commanded by Sir Janko Yackov (Admiral Equivalent) appeared seemingly from nowhere and destroyed the battleship after it had recalled all of its crew and craft totaling nearly 8 000 dead. ''USSS Tryfekt'' Among the few casualties in the early KBB service, the Tryfekt was crippled behind friendly lines. Late in the war, the Tethyns aided several extremists and infiltrated deep into USK space. [[USSS Tryfekt|USSS KBB-''I''-1002 Tryfekt]] was on a routine patrol of the Anima system, commanded by Senior Commander Tark Eleron and a fully manned crew. Just out of view of Station Ancora, the battleship was going to begin a sweep of the area. At 0130 hours, 3 unregistered and unauthorized cargo vessels at high speeds launched from Anima. The Senior Commander avoided opening fire immediately and as a result the three vessels collided with the fore of the Tryfekt, resulting in massive damage and leaving nearly a third of the ship turned to debris. This attack signaled numerous more on Anima and an attempt to take Station Ancora. ''USSS Shosha'' A KBB could function battered and bruised nearly as long as it could fully functioning. The Shosha was an exception to the rule. As war was boiling down, the Tethyns were cornered and surrounded but that did not stop their devotion to victory. At the Tethyn Drive Yards, [[USSS Shosha|USSS KBB-''I''-101 Shosha]] was commanding the defensive force and under minor repairs on the outer hull and critical systems. The Tethyns retook a massive spacedock and as a result nearly rendered the Shosha immobile and useless. Using captured USK Destroyers and fighters, they began a series of hit and runs where the Shosha was stationed in dock. The USSC forces attempted to drive them off and in the process opened up a hole for a larger Tethyn strike group to enter the system. With them, one of three experimental warships- a siege platform. With the first shot the KBB was without a command deck, and as she pulled out of dock to engage the enemy head on, another shot went straight through the hull and busted open the hangar. Now with two gaping wounds it was heading at full speed, guns firing toward the siege platform readying its main cannon. She took one last hit, just askew of the main barrel, destroying half of it and the various external arrays underneath. Moments later she took critical damage to the reactor and ftl drive, rendering the Shosha powerless and motionless- adrift. ''USSS Reblin'' Of the few KBB's that were critically wounded, the Reblin was the first- and the luckiest. During the initial waves of Tethyn assaults, [[USSS Reblin|USSS KBB-''I''-379 Reblin]] was poised to make a counter attack just like the rest of the KBB's. At the signal to close the front in around the Tethyn Armada, the Reblin cycled up and followed the fleet. At 1230 hours two NE days into the operation, a Tethyn counter attack targeted the Reblin and her supporting ships in an attempt to break out of the encirclement. By chance or sabotage, the Tethyns caused a USK destroyer to explode inside the launch bay rendering the Reblin a crippled wreck. Still fending off attackers, the Tethyns tried to board the crippled KBB making each deck a battlefield. After nearly 4 days of fighting the Tethyn counter attack became a USSC blitz. =Characteristics= The Tethyns may have had some better systems and weapons but the Khandarfur is riddled with guns. It lacked maneuverability but with it's long range weapons it didn't need to pursue targets- especially since it had 100% firing cone coverage. The Khandarfur had an immense belly hangar bay, made to house the new TU corvette. It has quaternary control centers and it's own stealth systems. It can do just about anything the USK could want- except enter orbit. The Khandarfur is strictly a spacecraft, a drawback but necessary. The large ship could not house the atmospheric capable thrust and protect them. The Khandarfur can launch ground assaults though and rain down absolute hell on it's enemies- and it did. Khandarfur was the flagship of the USK fleets, every USSC and TU shipyard began construction in under a year after first contact. With over 2 000 produced before the first rounds of combat, the USK actually was able to stand a chance against the superior firepower of the Tethyn Fleets. The Khandarfur is not accessible on any civilian or private market, and they continued to be produced- with upgrades and refits- even through the war against the CCIISP The Khandarfur is capable of making it's own Interstellar portal. It houses the array inside the hull making it possible to send ships to and from the Battleship's location. The SG designed a special version- never constructed- that is capable of projecting wormholes as well. The immense size of the ship brought so many capabilities to a front. The large Capital ship has the longest range weapons in the entire cluster, and the most advanced warp drive. The D-HSW-MK1 was a new development that reduced damage to spacetime and also is able to travel at warp in a lower dimension- making it nearly undetectable while at warp and making it seem to be traveling nearly 100 times the speed of light. The main armament is a LMLA that shoots a 4 meter diameter round at speeds reaching 80% speed of light. The main cannon does not have a quick rate of fire like the Deykaz support destroyer but it can destroy targets before ever seeing them. Otherwise it has hundreds of missile tubes, thousands of independently firing antifighter guns and enough heavy weaponry to destroy a small moon. The battleship is very nearly a dreadnought but it's just not quite there. The USK could not develop sufficient armor. Though it could take a beating, it didn't take much to make a hull breach. There were several ship systems that were solely devoted to scrambling incoming tracking and automated fire in order to reduce hull damage and the ship and tertiary redundant systems for nearly everything so that when the hull inevitably failed, a section could be rerouted. This is the main reason behind its shear size. Throughout all of the USK-Tethyn War only 1 was destroyed and 3 disabled, the ship is able to survive with just a carcass remaining. Much later during the war with the CCIISP, a better metal was created for warship hills but by then retrofitting would mean replacing hundreds of millions of kilograms of metal on tens of thousands of battleships- the hull refit just wasn't economical. TU and JDY developed a Dreadnought in coordination with other companies. =Design and Background= When conflict with the Erravi and the Dark Market broke out, the USK issued funding for a larger class of ships intended for long range engagements, fleet support and carrier operations. The KBB design was the most promising of the others but the sheer amount of resources could not be accommodated at a time when the USK was struggling to stay afloat every year. Erravi and Dark Market ships inspired a thinner and long hull lined with broadside artillery, with this in mind they centered the ship around a massive piece of artillery that could reach ranges never before imagined. With the USK in such a weak state during the war, the design was pushed off based on strategies brought up that the High Council believed would win the war. Even the earliest version of the KBB would have been able to attack innumerable amount of targets large and small with an even greater array of utility and technology at its disposal. The Ship could have possibly cost the USK the war if they had sunk their money into it though. At the time there wasn't even any spacedocks that could accommodate such a hull size, and only a couple of installations that could even make the required parts. The originally design went through over 10 000 changes until the hull was finally laid down- these changes are even documented by the SG. The final version of the first iteration had the best the USK could offer. With a mass totaling nearly 30 billion kg when fully equipped, it had 2 466 manable weapons each with deep ammo reserves the largest being 6 90 cm Breksys Cannons. The KBB began with tertiary propulsion systems but as technology progressed the KBB only had primaries and secondaries, each being able maneuver the ship. While the first batch of KBB's had an Ion drive that required frequent maintenance, the Fusion Reactors were top notch- both were classified by the SG until the KBB was eventually decommissioned. At its thickest, the armor was over 8 meters thick and at its thinnest 2 meters, making it a very tough target. With its original thruster components, it could was not very maneuverable and had even less useful sublight speeds. =Ships and Classes= When contact with the Tethyn Armada was first made, the USSC immediately requested approval for the KBB. The first batch was made solely in Draxpog, which did result in some minor defects. the Tethyn intelligence did not even catch a hint of its existence until nearly (YEAR) when an armistice was being thought of- possibly influencing the Tethyns decision and future designs for warships seen in the second half of the war. Going along with USSC tradition of naming Capital ships, a KBB was not given a name until it had earned its place in history- being referred to as its number in official matters until then. However between crews, a KBB could be referred to by many names. The KBB-I's were mainly constructed in Draxpog, Anima, and Trayshal using materials from across USK space. A large number of KBB-I's were well recognized by name, such as Reblin, Shosha, Tryfekt and Byblitek. These ships served gloriously for the USK and live on as a legacy for other ships. Warships 1-1000 The first batch of KBB-I's was used primarily for the offensive ambush and retaliation during the second half of the USK-Tethyn Conflict. With almost half of them rushed causing numerous defects for Tethyns to take advantage of. Only a couple hundred were equipped with decreased armament and a few had less crew quarters. Most importantly though, the last 23 were not equipped with a working main cannon and used it for extra storage space. Notably, the USSS KBB-''I''-889 Grachek had critical systems and hull problems that were never resolved, but it outperformed numerous other KBB's in combat most likely because of hardened and experienced crew and leadership. Warships 1001-2000 The second batch of KBB's was used more carefully and had a handful up upgrades to them. The Second batch had an uncharacteristic flaw in the armor that analysts and the military could not determine until decades after the war. Whether it was on purpose or on accident, one of the metal refineries used for the hull and armor sent defective metal. The refinery, located in Dorse had been attacked by a Tethyn strike in an attempt to cripple USK manufacturing, while it only slowed the USK, it had unforeseen ramifications. The second batch was used mostly for occupation and securing flanks. These KBB's were not easily distinguishable from the others and because of that it was still feared even though if their flaws were taken advantage of they could be blown away. After the USSC discovered that the second batch had poor hull and armor quality, they pulled them off the front lines and reserves and stationed nearly every one behind friendly lines. Several of them where even decommissioned or dismantled, converting several of them to support vessels and taking the armament off most of them. A total of 813 were lost in combat or scrapped with 96 converted only 91 still in service by the end of the war. Warships 2001-3000 The third batch of KBB-I's included a number of modifications making them slightly different than the first batch- and even batches to come. The 2000's had slightly better armament and auxiliary craft docking- this allowed for a variety of craft rather than only two. After all of the upgrades to the third batch were done it nearly changed every specification. The third batch did remarkably well in combat losing none to the Tethyns. Warships 3001-4000 The final batch was never entirely completed. With the third doing so well and the war coming to a foreseeable victory, the fourth batch was haphazardly put together. The order was placed when the USK and USSC were not confident that a Tethyn Counter Attack would be unsuccessful. After the attacks on Anima and the Capital, the USK and the USSC did not believe reports from the SG that the Tethyns were incapable of mounting a counter attack as they pushed closer to deep Tethyn Space. After the first hundred or so hulls were laid down, it became clear that victory was in sight. The USSC however still wanted the warships, seeing a difficult occupation ahead and paranoia about a civil war erupting- even fear about strange reports given by the SG beyond USK space. The USSC took advantage of the wartime mentality to prepare for the future. Only about 300 were fully completed with all of the specifications, the rest were lazily thrown together with hundreds missing entire decks by the end of the war. The 300 completed were kept in service after the war and occupation while the rest were scrapped sold or converted during the peace. Notably, 500 or so were used for jump starting colonies within USK space in order to populate the sparse regions of space, with a handful becoming moving colonies. This was a similar fate to most of the KBB's after the war though. =Specifications= While the KBB's varied mainly by batch, and on an individual level as well, each variant used over the centuries carried the same principle of armament centered around the main cannon, a Hangar for Auxiliary Craft, Primary Anti-Capital Ship cannons, Secondary Support Cannons and Tertiary Point Defenses used against fighter craft and small vessels or ships. Armament The Armament varied little between batches of KBB's especially for the first variant, while the later models of the Khandarfur had remarkably different specifications. Main Armament The LMLA was the KBB's main armament- throughout its existence. The "Planet Buster" had a 4.1 meter diameter cannon with a self reloading and assembling magazine that had a 192 Terajoule Payload just to start with. It had a slower rate of fire but a velocity and range unbeatable. Nicknamed Planet Buster, the GM-200TJ was a menace. The GM-200TJ was modified several times with a number of variants and the producer and actual specs were classified until the KBB's decommissioning. Secondary Armament The 6 90 cm Breksys Cannons were some of the largest pieces of shipboard artillery fielded by the USSC. Even though it was conventional artillery, it had a much wider variety of ammunition available to it including smart munitions, AP and HE-AA/M-DP ('H'igh 'E'xplosive-'A'''nti '''A'rmor/'M'''aterial-'''D'ual 'P'urpose). The Breksys was formidable enough to stand toe to toe with the Tethyn heavy batteries but without the support of the secondaries and Tertiaries, the KBB wouldn't last long. The KBB's other Secondary Anti-Capital ship artillery was 60 24 cm triple barrel Kiety Cannons which could compete with the Breksys only in rate of fire and velocity. The early versions were formidable on their own and frequently over-penetrated small Tethyn Ships. The Kiety was still used later on but were outfitted with different barrels allowing them to switch between conventional warheads and I-LMLA ammunition. Tertiary Armament The Khandarfur's Tertiary Amrament begins with The Brianck Assault Gun, originally with 240 of the 122 mm model (Brianck M12.2/C) designed for fire support and suppression against mid range targets while the main batteries reload. The Briancks packed a hefty punch against smaller ships like Frigates and Destroyers holding them at a range. The 60 mm Tribrundt Cannons were often replaced by the Ju'liah-2 Railguns of the same caliber. Nonetheless, these cannons were originally intended as very accurate critical hitters and Heavy Point defense. The Ju'liah-2 was highly favored though since the Tribrundt was just an outdated conventional version of the Railgun and the Tribrundt was eventually phased out of service on the KBB's. It performed exceptionally well though considering it could barely damage large Tethyn craft. The Ju'liah Railgun was a masterwork. It made its grand appearance on the stage as the Khandarfur's Prized Point Defense Turret. Three versions were used on the KBB's, two single barrel and a double barrel- the latter having a significantly smaller caliber. Its uses were not limited to Point Defense though. It eventually replaced the outdated Tribrundt and was used to deal crippling damage to critical points on enemy ships. While it had good armor penetration for its size, it could was favored for targeting exposed or weak points. The Double Barrel Ju'liah was very useful for anti-Fighter support as well, with a hefty caliber compared to most fighter/bomber armor it could take most out with single hits. Auxiliary Armament Klaash Automated miniguns were a common armament used by the USK and were fielded as anti-fighter point defenses. With a 50 mm conventional projectile and an incredible rate of fire it did well enough to make pilots think twice about a run- especially with a deck lined with 240. the Klaash had several upgrades over the years and tried to keep up but eventually couldn't- it was eventually replaced by a Ju'liah Railgun Minigun which proved more effective. The two variants of the Bren Autocannon that lined the Khandarfur's Decks were only used on the KBB-I. The Bren Autocannon was an old outdated anti-fighter defense that proved largely ineffective against Tethyn Craft. The Bren's role was reduced to Point Defense but still proved largely ineffective with a caliber too small or effective range not quite long enough it was once again reduced to lesser role- making up "Anti-Boarding" until the second batch of KBB-I's was made and it was replaced entirely with a low caliber Ju'liah Railgun Autocannon. They looked terrifying though from their shear numbers. The Missile systems were a variety of launchers mounted on three axes gimbals allowing for automated targeting and firing at will. the array of missile launchers usually launched class 5-7 missiles but missiles were being considered for a cut back due to ineffectiveness and inadequate field results. Hull and Armour The Khandarfur was designed as the heaviest hitter, with the longest range, largest hangar and the most survivability. It performed exceptionally well in all that it did. In order to stay in the fight it was equipped with the thickest hull with a revolutionary technology- the plasma shield. The main sections of plating had 8 meters of extra armour as solid metal and even thinnest points had 2 meters of armour. The internal matrix of the inner and outer hull plating was a honeycomb making it so even if the armour was pierced, it would minimize any hull breach- it also served to prematurely detonated proximity or timed explosives. The Main Cannons had deep ammo reserves and manufacturing facilities along the spine of the ship. It should be noted that the armour protecting the conventional warheads was not much thicker than the main section armour, even more surprising it was actually thinner at 2.5 meters for the KBB-I and its Kiety Cannons. The composite metal alloy used effectively made every centimeter of armour into twice its actual thickness- the process was classified and hidden at great lengths being produced within the confines of Draxpog. The Honeycomb Matrix was a relatively new idea for compartmentalizing armour plating rather than just the decks and rooms. The design, while effective ion its goal, actually weakend the effective armour plating. This made it arguable whether it was worth the extra compartmentalization and minimization of hull breaches. SG and USSC analysts studied the design for a decade after the war and decided to keep the honeycomb structure in favor of better shield technology to help against possible shortcomings of effective thickness. Propulsion Engines and Powerplants The Khandarfur had the newest technology at its disposal. Utilizing the D-HSW-MK1 in early models allowing it to shift into a smaller dimension and move at the speed of light, making its relative speed in normal space over 100 times the speed of light. While it sounds impressive, this speed is rather slow when the USK expands beyond the confines of the cluster. When traveling at those speeds it is virtually undetectable from normal space. This was its long distance propulsion, it used over 18 000 thrusters for sublight speed and maneuvering- but it was relatively bad at maneuvering seeing as it had a mass of about 18 million kg. The Early KBB's had two different engines, a large amount of Electromagnetic Ionic Batteries that harnessed radiation to create usable energy and a series of Fusion Reactors. Both were classified by the SG and USSC for a long time and their manufacturing was actually done by the SG in Draxpog. Both Engine Systems were heavily protected and spread across the ship, only one case was known where a chain reaction occurred across the EM/IB engines and essentially detonated the ship. These engines served as the main powerplant for the ship as well, using any power the engines didn't use went into more batteries and stored. There was also a significant amount of solar arrays littering the deck. =''Khandarfur V'' and the Khandarfur Dreadnought= The KBB line was already a super battleship as design and in practice. It didn't become apparent until conflict with the CCIISP that the Khandarfur could be out gunned by lower classes- this led to the Khandarfur Super Dreadnought. The KBB-V was a ship that inspired pride in the USK and USSC, but in practice it could barely hold its own in ship to ship combat making it into a long range fire support and carrier ship. This realization hurt the USK and the USSC because their military technology just wasn't cut out to fight something that much more superior to what was on the KBB-V. Using Captured CCIISP and Aetlaen Technology and some Somi flare, the Khandarfur Empire Developed the first Dreadnought from the Khandarfur Cluster. Category:Ships of the Galtrax Galaxy